HELP for Faculty and Students Participants of URAP

This page contains information for Faculty Mentors and Student RAs who have been awarded URAP grants. Below you will find info on completing your award paperwork, getting signed up to payroll and Kronos, and using Kronos to track the number of hours worked. This information will also be sent to you by email. If you are unsure about any of the steps below, contact the URAP Coordinator Mary Leighton.

There are two major decisions to make, before we can get your student hired. Use the flowchart below, then scroll down for details.

We will post a job advert for your RA position on our website from May 12 to May 24. The advert text will use the description of the student’s role from your application. We encourage you to send the advert to your own departmental student email lists and to students in your class! This way you are more likely to be able to reach students with the correct qualifications.

You will be responsible for reviewing the applications, interviewing students, and choosing who to hire. You will be sent full instructions on how to access the applications by email. Notify Mary Leighton of who you intend to hire by TUESDAY MAY 30.

Once you have chosen your student RA(s), complete a Letter of Agreement (see below). This document will lay out everyone’s responsibilities and expectations of your mentor-mentee relationship. Make sure you both sign, then email a scanned copy to Mary Leighton by MONDAY JUNE 5.

Complete a Letter of Agreement for each RA (see below). This document will lay out everyone’s responsibilities and expectations of your mentor-mentee relationship. Make sure you both sign, then email a scanned copy to Mary Leighton by FRIDAY MAY 19.

Completing your Letter of Agreement

The Faculty and the Student jointly create a Letter of Agreement. This document will lay out everyone’s responsibilities and expectations of your mentor-mentee relationship.

If there are any problems over the course of the URAP project, the OUR will refer back to the Letter of Agreement when deciding how to intervene or arbitrate misunderstandings and disagreements.

The Letter of Agreement needs to be filled in and signed on the last page by both the Faculty and the Student.

Return a scanned copy to Mary Leighton by MAY 19/JUNE 5 (see above).

How are RAs paid and what is Kronos?

RAs are biweekly employees paid through the university-wide payroll system. They log hours using Kronos, the university’s timecard system.

RAs hired through OUR must complete a Personal Data Form and return it to Mary Leighton. Faculty Mentors must assign someone to be their RA's 'Kronos Supervisor' – the person who sign off the student's hours each week. This is usually the Faculty Mentor themselves, but can also be an administrator the Faculty designates. Grad students cannot be Kronos supervisors.

The Kronos Supervisor must sign the completed Personal Data Form where it says 'supervisor signature'.

Students must not begin working on their Faculty Mentor's project until they are officially on payroll and able to log hours through Kronos.

Faculty who already hire their own RAs and pay them through Kronos should oversee the Personal Data Form and Kronos process themselves. The grant amount will be transferred to their chart-string directly.

Faculty are responsible for keeping a full record of the RAs hours over the summer and submitting this to Mary Leighton by FRIDAY AUGUST 25, 2017.

Any unused funds must be returned to the OUR through a chart string transfer by the first week of September, 2017.

If you are hired by the OUR you must complete the following steps in a timely manner. Remember: The Payroll Department serves the entire university and does not notify us when you have completed the I-9 process. If you do not respond to emails from the Office of Undergrad Research, or keep us up to date on your I-9 status, there will be a delay in you getting started and paid!

Complete the Personal Data Form given to you by your faculty. Your faculty will email this to Mary Leighton.

I-9. Students who are new employees, or have not received a paycheck from the University in the last 6 months, must complete the I-9 eVerify process.

Go to Northwestern’s I-9 Service Center. Enter your information as a new employee. For School/Area, select 'Central Administration.' For Department/Center, select '0008 Undergraduate Research Office.'

After completing the I-9 eVerify process on your own, bring the forms listed below to Bryce O'Tierney in the Office of Undergraduate Research.

Federal and Illinois Employment Forms. Fill out these forms and bring them in person to Bryce in the Office of Undergraduate Research.

Federal Form W-4: Most students will claim no withholdings or allowances, meaning you will put zero on the lines.

Illinois Form W-4: Most students will claim no withholdings or allowances, meaning you will put zero on the lines.

Direct Deposit Form: You are required to have your wages direct deposited into a bank account. Please note: you need to attach a blank, voided check or a bank statement to this form.

Illinois Department of Children & Family Services Form: Fill out these forms and bring them in person to Bryce the Office of Undergraduate Research. Attest that you will comply with the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act. Enter 'research assistant' as type of employment.

International students. Compliance with the Foreign National Information System is required of all foreign national individuals being paid through the university’s payroll system. International students will therefore complete the FNIS Request Form, if applicable.

International students without a SSN: leave the SSN box blank on your Personal Data Form. Contact Mary Leighton immediately to request an official Employment Offer Letter which will also be signed by the faculty. This letter can be used to apply for a SSN. Please note: it can take up to three months for a SSN to be assigned, so this process should be started as soon as possible.

The Faculty (or the administrator they designate) will be the student’s Supervisor on Kronos. The student will be considered a biweekly university employee. It is the Supervisor’s responsibility to ensure they comply with the rules of the Kronos Timekeeping System.

The Supervisor must review and approve the student’s hours biweekly.

Kronos will send you an email if you have missed the biweekly deadline, but does not notify you when it is approaching.

If you miss the deadline, contact the Kronos Help Desk (details above). You will be asked to do a 'historic edit' to retroactively approve the hours for the pay period you missed. This involves: 1) Printing out a paper copy of the RA's time sheet for the biweekly time period you missed; 2) Writing "Hours approved by [print your name]" on the printout, along with your signature and the date; 3) Scan and email the signed printout to the Kronos helpdesk.

If you know in advance that you will not be able to approve the student’s timesheet before the deadline, contact Mary Leighton at the OUR ahead of the deadline.

The Faculty Researcher is responsible for ensuring the student does not work more than the total number of hours they have been allocated through the URAP grant.

You must not exceed the total number of hours you have been allocated for each URAP student. This is likely to be 200 hours for the academic year or 300 for the summer (check your Letter of Agreement for the exact number).

Supervisors can check the total number of hours a student has accumulated using the 'range of dates' option in Kronos. Contact the Kronos helpdesk for more information.

Your student cannot log hours after the last day of your URAP grant. For Summer 2016 URAPs, this date is August 26.

The Faculty Researcher is responsible for ensuring the student does not work overtime.

Undergraduates cannot work more than 40 hours total per week, across their combined university jobs.

If your student lists more than 80 hours in a two week pay period, do not approve the timesheet. Contact the student, and have them make the necessary adjustments.

STUDENT KRONOS INSTRUCTIONS

As a university employee, you must comply with the rules of the Kronos Timekeeping System for biweekly employees.

Report all hours you work via Kronos and record your hours daily. Do not begin working until you are on payroll and can log hours in Kronos. Bundling your hours later will put you into a high tax bracket.

Ensure you have entered all your hours before the cut-off date for that biweekly pay period.

You will receive an email reminder from Kronos 48 hours before each deadline.

If you miss a deadline, you will need to do a 'historic edit' that must be signed off by your faculty supervisor. Contact the Kronos helpdesk for instructions.

During the summer you cannot work more than 40 hoursper week. If you have another campus job, your combined hours must not exceed 40 hours (80 hours per biweekly pay period).

You cannot work longer than you total allocated URAP hours. You must not exceed the total number of hours you have been allocated. This is likely to be 200 hours for the academic year or 275 for the summer (check your Letter of Agreement for the exact number).

Students must not begin working for the faculty researcher until they are officially on payroll and able to log their hours through Kronos.